October 26, 2015

Monuments and nonmonuments.

I feel like there's a theme today on the blog:

Monuments:
The Ukrainian Darth Vader Lenin

The big bronze head of Karl Marx 

"The monumental task of building California's bullet train will require punching 36 miles of tunnels..." (This quote looks so phallic — so rape-y —in the retrospect of late morning. And now the Karl Marx head on a plinth seems especially penile. And I guess everyone has already noticed that Darth Vader's helmet resembles the head of a penis.)
Nonmonuments:
As president: a comedian

The fruitless "bare branches" of China — millions of men who, without women, can produce no offspring

Gloria Steinem expresses her love for the nonhierarchical "talking circles" (outside of mud huts in India and amongst the Native Americans) and her distaste for "our monotheistic patriarchies and their ‘pyramid’ structures of authority from the top."

37 comments:

Brent said...

Gloria Steinem has done more to destroy the social bonds on today's world than Stalin could have ever dreamed. Jer place in hell will be even darker and hotter than his.

Birkel said...

When all you have is a vagina, everything looks like a nail.

SDaly said...

Steinem confirms the anti-feminist trope that if women had historically been in charge of society, we would still be living in mud huts.

traditionalguy said...

Communist/communal women sounds pretty good. From each woman according to her ability given to each man according to his needs. That sounds like good animal husbandry.

What could go wrong with that any more than happened under Karl Marx's brilliant plan?



Goldenpause said...

Gloria Steinem is like Peter Pan -- She won't grow up.

BrianE said...

I thought it was men that were supposed to be obsessed with sex.

traditionalguy said...

The bullet trains are beautiful and straight images of a powerfully aggressive machine barreling over mother earth's rolling hills and into her deep valleys. The secret to the trains long trips must be in its viagra fuel additive.

tim in vermont said...

Imagine if all those unborn women had been conceived here in the US where the "War on women" is at such a fever pit. What a blessing for them they the were not!

tim in vermont said...

@traditionalguy

Iowahawk says Mother Earth is the ultimate MILF.

SDaly said...

Sorry. Because I don't stop by here much anymore, I posted my earlier comment without having read the prior post on Steinhem or the quote from Camille Paglia (which was not original with her).

Bill, Republic of Texas said...

The Steinem article should be listed under the monuments. It is a monument to stupidity.

Actually the unwanted Chinese men are a living and breathing monument to the arrogance of central planning.

That leaves the comedian. I've got nothing.

rhhardin said...

Monument veneris.

Robert Cook said...

"Actually the unwanted Chinese men are a living and breathing monument to the arrogance of central planning."

It's more a devastating illustration a patriarchal culture which reveres boy children and disdains girl children, such that many couples, upon learning the developing fetus is female, will abort it.

One can argue that this is a consequence of the law limiting children to one per couple, but in a country with scarce resources and a population of billions, (and continuing to grow), this was not an "arrogant" act but a rational and probably necessary step to take in the 80s when this began to be enforced. Would it be more rational--if less intrusive into some presumed "right" of couples to have as many babies as they want--to allow the population to continue to grow unchecked, insuring privation and starvation for more and more of the nation's people? (As Spock sagely pointed out: "The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few...or the one." Americans need to learn this lesson.)

What China should do, if the population to resources ratio is still so out of whack that "one child per couple" must still be considered necessary, is to work on changing the public mind on the preference of boy children over girl children, educating the public as to the necessity of girl children and emphasizing that they are equally as valuable as boy children, (or more so).

HoodlumDoodlum said...

Robert Cook said.... Would it be more rational--if less intrusive into some presumed "right" of couples to have as many babies as they want

Good thing you threw some quotes around "right" there, Cook. I mean, I know how much you support the UN and their various declarations on universal human rights, and I know that reproductive rights are among those...but I get it, you don't really buy into all of it, you sly dog.

Gahrie said...

It's more a devastating illustration a patriarchal culture which reveres boy children and disdains girl children, such that many couples, upon learning the developing fetus is female, will abort it.

The abortion of female babies is/was not to due to a patriarchal society, but as was stated on the other thread, is due to China's system for dealing with the elderly. The oldest male child and his wife are expected to support his parents. Her parents are presumably being supported by their male child. In such a system, when you are only allowed to have one child, a female child means you will be poor and neglected in your old age. Thus the abortion of female children is an act of enlightened self interest, not patriarchy.

Gahrie said...

One can argue that this is a consequence of the law limiting children to one per couple, but in a country with scarce resources and a population of billions, (and continuing to grow), this was not an "arrogant" act but a rational and probably necessary step to take in the 80s when this began to be enforced

Just like Stalin starving the Kulaks and the Cossacks...right? Or maybe Pol Pot reordering his society?

You have to break a few eggs to make an omelet...amiright?

sinz52 said...

There were a couple of seasons of the reality-TV show "Survivor" in which the tribes were segregated into a male tribe and a female tribe.

From almost the moment that the male tribe hit the beach, these male strangers organized themselves rapidly into a hierarchy, with the leader at the top, the lieutenants underneath, and the worker bees at the lowest level. The construction of the shelter and the making of the campfire proceeded smoothly.

The female tribe spent the whole day discussing and arguing, never accomplishing their needed tasks, and ended up sleeping on the ground in the dark and the cold.

The moral: Consensus can be longer-lasting, but it takes longer to achieve. And when you can't afford to wait, it's not a good approach.

HoodlumDoodlum said...

Ooh, sort of on topic, I nominate the monumental hypocrisy of the Left in using "disparate impact" as an excuse to enforce laws they like/prosecute people they don't like for a statue.
From the FBI's letter confirming the DOJ won't bring any criminal prosecutions against IRS officials:

"The IRS mishandled the processing of tax-exempt applications in a manner that disproportionately impacted applicants affiliated with the Tea Party and similar groups, leaving the appearance that the IRS' s conduct was motivated by political, discriminatory, corrupt, or other inappropriate motive. However, ineffective management is not a crime. The Department of Justice's exhaustive probe revealed no evidence that would support a criminal prosecution. What occurred is disquieting and may necessitate corrective action - but it does not warrant criminal prosecution.'

So the IRS did wrong, individuals within the IRS did wrong, and the wrong actions disproportionately hurt one side of the political spectrum (coincidentally the side the head of the division opposed) and the harm fell on specific group associated with a set of political beliefs. That's straight up the definition of disparate impact, but here the FBI says "oh well, that's not enough, you have to prove specific bad intent by each individual to have anything to prosecute." I don't want to hear another fucking thing about disparate impact.

Gahrie said...


What China should do, ... is to work on changing the public mind on the preference of boy children over girl children,... emphasizing that they are equally as valuable as boy children, (or more so).

Maybe they could create a market incentive. Give the fathers of the children the right to sell their daughters (we could call this payment a "bride price").

MikeR said...

“To the eunuchs who keep my Sabbaths,
who choose what pleases me
and hold fast to my covenant—
To them I will give within my temple and its walls
a memorial and a name
better than sons and daughters;"

MikeR said...

"It's more a devastating illustration a patriarchal culture which reveres boy children and disdains girl children, such that many couples, upon learning the developing fetus is female, will abort it." Keep your hands off my right to choose!

tim in vermont said...

Am I the only one who thinks that Robert Cook has The Internationale as his ring tone? Or maybe it's English language equivalent "Imagine"?

"Imagine no possessions, it's easy if your North Korean..."

"Nothing to eat or warm us... above us only sky..."

MikeR said...

Nuts: I should have used the English Standard Version:
"I will give in my house and within my walls a monument and a name better than sons and daughters; I will give them an everlasting name that shall not be cut off."

Gahrie said...

Am I the only one who thinks that Robert Cook has The Internationale as his ring tone?

There is a reason I call him Squealor.

tim in vermont said...

North Korea is what happens when you let a market economy run wild.

traditionalguy said...

Instapundit has a Victor Davis Hanson piece on Trump being our Napoleon.

That should portend many a Huge Monument coming our way. The Arche de la Trump's Triumphs will probably be built over the Washington Monument

Sammy Finkelman said...

The real building was done by Napoleon III in the 1860s. He built all those boulevards in Paris. He destroyed a lot of hosuing and neighborhoods. He used eminent domain.

The catch was - he overpaid, so landloards were very anxious to be included, and nobody fought the pojects,

traditionalguy said...

All those Boulevards through Paris were built to be way too wide to be barricaded like the Parisians rising in rebellion used to do every year or two. Napoleon just used grapeshot from his Artillery.

tim in vermont said...

All those Boulevards through Paris were built to be way too wide to be barricaded like the Parisians rising in rebellion used to do every year or two

I assumed they were built like that to accommodate the Germans.

tim in vermont said...

some presumed "right" of couples

Vote for me! I believe that all rights are arrogated to the state!

Real American said...

the bullet train in California IS rape of its citizens who don't need it or want it and certainly can't afford to pay for it

Carnifex said...

You know what looks like a penis? A penis. BWAHAHHAHHAHHAHHA

Smilin' Jack said...

The fruitless "bare branches" of China — millions of men who, without women, can produce no offspring.

That totally gives me the sads. :-( Because what the world really needs is more billions of Chinese.

Smilin' Jack said...

Gloria Steinem expresses her love for the nonhierarchical "talking circles" (outside of mud huts in India and amongst the Native Americans) and her distaste for "our monotheistic patriarchies and their ‘pyramid’ structures of authority from the top."

Not sure how authority from the bottom would work, Gloria, but as Barbie said, "Logic is hard."

Drago said...

Cook: "It's more a devastating illustration a patriarchal culture which reveres boy children and disdains girl children, such that many couples, upon learning the developing fetus is female, will abort it."

If a policy is deemed wrong in a western country, then it's all the fault of those running dog capitalists!

If a policy is deemed wrong in a beautiful and wonderful leftist peoples paradise then it's all the fault of the patriarchy! (since we mustn't ever, ever, question those adorable and lovable lefties)

A roundtable of soviet leaders from over 80 years could not have said it better!

Drago said...

On the subject of Gloria Steinem, would now be an inopportune time to note that according to Gloria and the lefties, Bruce Jenner is a female and Kay Baily Hutchison is a "female impersonator".

And they really do believe that.

Drago said...

Robert Cook "knows" that the only salvation for the "little guy" against the state is to ensure that the state is empowered to completely control each and every facet of the "little guys" existence.

#logic!